"In the beginning, God created the heavens and
the Earth." Genesis 1:1
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God."
John 1:1
There are two books
in the Bible that begin with "in the beginning". Genesis 1 begins
with the history of God's creation.
John 1 begins with
"In the beginning was the Word."
Both references affirm that God was there in the beginning, and that
Jesus--the Word of God-- was there with Him. He never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and
forever. The Holy Spirit was there with
them, too, brooding over the primeval waters, planting Jesus in Mary's womb, and witnessing to His eternal nature.
Before God, nothing
else was there. Everything else we can
name has both a beginning and an end. It is possible that before this creation
there were other creations, but we would never know it if there were. All trace
of what came before would have been eradicated in the moment of our universe's
creation. But if any existed before, it
would not matter to us. When God created
our world, all things were made new.
When Christ came, as
John reveals, the world was made new
again through the Eternal Word of God. We existed before encountering Christ,
but that existence does not matter. For us, Jesus is the beginning of all things. All the resentments, sins, and failures of
our imprisoned and oppressed existence before the Cross are over in Him. Our
world begins when the Word appears.
Jesus is the very act of creation. Through Him, all things were brought
into existence. Even if we have made a
mess of things in the past, whenever we encounter Christ we have a new
beginning.
New Year's Day is a
wonderful opportunity to begin again, but only if that beginning starts with
Christ. The mistakes and failures of this last year do not matter--they are put
to death on Christ's cross. What matters
is that we are walking now with Jesus,
whether we see or know Him today, and whether we will walk with Him in the
future.
Two misconceptions
tie us forever to the past--guilt and unforgiveness. Guilt ties us to the past
by constantly bringing to mind our past mistakes--what that we no longer have,
what we should have done that we did not do, or what we ought not to have done
that we did. It's foolish to dwell on
any of these. We do not live in
yesterday--we can only live today. When
we hold on to resentment about what others have done to us, we get stuck in the
past. Jesus tells us in the Lord's prayer.
"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors". If we cannot
let go of other people's sins, how can
we believe it when we read that God has let go of ours?
When we let go of
the past we can begin again.
Today can be a new
beginning. Face this new year with a
clean slate in Him. God has great things for you if only you will have the
courage today to be free.
"Father, help me to know that I am forgiven, and
help me to forgive others, so that I can be free to experience all the new
adventures you have for me this year. In Jesus' name, Amen."